WELCOME

STUDY OF RAT

Prof. Dr. Balasaheb Tapale

Department of Zoology
Adv. M. N. Deshmukh College, Rajur, Tal-Akole. Dist.-Ahmednagar. (MS)
PIN - 422 604
Contact: 7350528733
E-Mail- [Link]@[Link]
 UNIT – 4
STUDY OF RAT

Systematic Position
Phylum : Chordata
Sub-phylum : Vertebrata
Superclass : Gnathostomata
Grade : Tetrapoda
Class : Mammalia
Sub-class : Theria
Infraclass : Eutheria
Order : Rodentia
Family : Muridae
Genus : Rattus
Species : rattus (Black rat)
Habit and Habitat:
 The common house Rats are cosmopolitan in distribution and found all over the world.
 They are herbivorous, fossorial and nocturnal.
 They also undergoes hibernation.
 They shows sexual dimorphism. Male is larger than female.
 Fertilization is internal.
 The time between fertilization and birth is 22 to 23 days.
 The rat breeds more than 4 times in a year and producing 6 to 8 young ones per litter.
 Newly born young ones are blind, deaf and without hairs.
 Young ones are feed by mother of her milk.
 The average age of rat is 3 years.

External Characters:
 The body of Rat is divisible into head, neck, trunk and tail.
 Most of the body is covered by dense hairs of definite colour.
 The trunk region bears anteriorly pair of fore limbs and posteriorly pair of hind limbs.
1. Head:
 The head is conical in shape, broader at posterior end and narrow
towards the anterior end.
 The narrow pointed end of the head forms the snout which bears
at the tip of oblique slits called external nostrils or nares.
 Below the nostrils a narrow mouth opening is present bounded by
upper and lower lips.
 On the either sides of snout, stiff and bristle like long hairs are
present called vibrissae.
 These vibrissae are tactile in function. Depending on the position,
the vibrissae are called mystical, superciliary, genal and
submental.
 The eyes are situated on the postero-lateral surface of the head.
Each eye is protected by movable upper and lower eyelids.
Eyelids are bordered with very fine short hairs called eye lashes.
 Besides the eyelids, the nictitating membrane is also present
 A pair of rounded external ears or pinnae is present. Each pinna is
large, muscular elastic and can moved in the direction of sound.
2. The Neck:
 It is short and narrow part of the body which lies between the head and the trunk.
 It allows free movements of head in all directions.
3. The Trunk:
 It is a broad and elongated part forming major portion of the body.
 The trunk is divisible into two parts, anterior thorax and posterior abdomen.
 The thorax is enclosed in a framework of bony skeleton formed by a back bone on the dorsal
side, ribs on the lateral side and breast bone on the ventral side.
 The thoracic cavity lodges the heart and lungs.
 The ribs protect the heart and lungs from external shocks.
 The abdomen lies behind the thorax and the abdominal cavity remains separate from the thoracic
cavity by a thick muscular partition called diaphragm.
 In the female rat, the ventral surface of the trunk possess six pairs of teats or mammae, three pairs
on thoracic region and three pairs on abdominal region.
 In case of male rats, teats are undeveloped.
Limbs: The trunk bears two pairs of limbs.
 The anterior pair is called fore limbs and the posterior limb is called hind limbs.
 The fore limbs are shorter than the hind limb.
Fore Limbs:
 The fore limbs shows three segments namely, the upper arm or brachium, the fore arm or anti
brachium and the hand or manus.
 The hand bears five fingers, each except the thumb or pollex ending in a curved pointed horny claw.
 The inner fingers are very much reduced with nails.
 The palm on its ventral surface is lacking hairs put with the cushion like muscular pads using for
walking.
Hind Limbs:
 The hind limb also shows three segments, the upper one thigh, the middle shank or crus and lower
is foot or pes. There are five toes to each foot and all ending in curved pointed claws.
 The hallux or first toe is very much shorter than other four toes.
 The limbs are locomotory in function and also useful in digging and burrowing.
Sexual Dimorphism:
 Scrotal sacs are present in male and absent in female.
 In male, common urinogenital opening is present at the tip of penis. In female, urinary and genital
openings are separate.
 Teats or mammae are absent in male but in female, there are six pairs of teats.
 In male, the anus lies below the scrotal sacs at the base of tail and in female, the anus lies at the
base of tail.
4. The Tail:
 The tail is longer than the trunk. It is cylindrical and gradually tapers towards the hind end.
 The tail is covered by overlapping epidermal scales and hairs arranged in rings.
 There are about 210 such rings on the tail. The tail is used as a balancing organ.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM:
A. The alimentary canal is consists of following parts
a. Mouth
b. Buccal cavity
c. Pharynx
d. Oesophagus
e. Stomach
f. Small Intestine (Duodenum and Ileum)
g. Large Intestine (Colon and Rectum)
h. Anus
B. Digestive Glands
a. Salivary gland
b. Liver
c. Pancreas
1. Mouth:
 The mouth is the transverse slit like opening at the end of pointed
snout.
 It is bounded by upper and lower lips as well as upper and lower jaws.
 Mouth opens into the wide cavity, the mouth or buccal cavity.
2. Mouth Cavity:
 The mouth cavity is the space between mouth and pharynx enclosed
by lips.
 It is spacious cavity bounded by upper immovable and lower movable
jaws.
 The anterior part of the mouth cavity lying between the teeth and lips
is called vestibule while posterior cavity is called the median oral
cavity.
 The roof of the mouth cavity is called as palate.
 It possesses numerous palatine glands which secrete mucous to
moisten the buccal cavity.
 The surface of hard palate possesses several transverse palatal ridges
which prevent the escape of food from mouth cavity.
Tongue:
 The floor of buccal cavity is occupied by the tongue, a flat, fleshy muscular organ.
 The tongue is free at the anterior end while posterior end is fixed or attached.
 Tongue performs several functions in the mouth cavity such as placing the food below the teeth,
cleaning of teeth, prevents the inhalation of dust while gnawing, tasting the food, mixing the food
with saliva and swallowing the morsel of food by pushing into the gullet.
 The tongue is containing small elevations or taste papillae are as fungiform, foliate and
circumvallate.
 Taste buds taste the chemical nature of the food.
 Mucous glands are also present, there secretion helps in lubricating the food.
Teeth:
 The teeth are present on the both jaws are called as thecodont i.e., they are lodged in the sockets of
jaw bones.
 The teeth are also called as heterodont. They vary in shape and size.
 The teeth are of two types as incisors and molars.
 The incisors are useful for cutting the food into small pieces and molars for crushing and grinding
the food.
 In rat teeth are monophyodont i.e., there are no milk teeth.
Structure of Teeth:
 A tooth has two parts, crown and root.
 Crown is the visible part and the root remains embedded in a socket on the jaws.
 The tooth is made up of a substance called dentine.
 The dentine of the root region remains covered by cement while the crown region of the tooth
remains covered by hard and shiny enamel.
 Each tooth bears an inner pulp cavity. This cavity remains filled up with jelly-like pulp, blood
vessels and nerves.
2. Pharynx:
 It is the posterior narrow part of the mouth cavity.
 It is the common chamber for both respiratory and digestive system.
 Posteriorly pharynx is communicated with oesophagus and trachea.
 The pharynx consists of three areas, nasopharynx lying above the soft palate, oropharynx lying
below the soft palate and the laryngopharynx the region between the soft palate and the
oesophagus.
 The trachea or windpipe opens on the ventral side of pharynx by slit like opening called glottis
which is guarded by leaf like muscular structure called epiglottis.
 It prevents falling of food particles during swallowing.
3. Oesophagus:
 It is long, narrow, dilatable straight tube leading from the pharynx through the neck and thorax
to abdomen and joins to the stomach.
 It starts at the gullet and lies dorsal to the heart in thoracic region.
 The oesophagus is muscular tube and the lumen is reduced due to foldings of mucous membrane
of stratified squamous epithelium.
 It contains mucous glands in submucosa which secrete mucous as food lubricant.
 The wall of oesophagus produce undulating movements called peristalsis.
 It pushes bolus towards the stomach.
4. Stomach:
 It is wide curved part of alimentary canal which lies on the left side behind the diaphragm.
 It has a greater curvature on left side, a lesser curvature on right side.
 The end of stomach towards the oesophagus is called the cardiac end and its opposite end is
called pyloric end.
 Due to twisting, the cardiac end has taken a position towards the left and the pyloric end has
taken a position towards the right in the abdominal cavity.
 The opening at the pyloric end is guarded by a valve called pyloric sphincter.
 It opens into duodenum. Stomach contains goblet cells for mucus, oxyntic cells for HCL and
peptic cells for secretion of pepsinogen.
5. Small Intestine:
 Stomach leads into small intestine, which can be differentiated into three parts duodenum (U -
shaped), jejunum (straight) and ileum (coiled).
 The duodenum begins from the pyloric end of the stomach and forms a “U” shaped loop.
 Ileum is much coiled continuation of the duodenum.
 The coiled loops of the ileum are held in position by folds of mesenteries.
 Ileum opens into the large intestine and the opening is guarded by an ileocolic valve.
 Digestive glands of small intestine secrete intestinal juice or succus entericus.
 The same contain lipase, nuclease, peptidase, lactase, sucrase and maltase enzymes.

6. Large Intestine:
 It has three parts as caecum, colon and rectum.
 Caecum is slightly constricted about its middle.
 The constriction sub divides the caecum into two parts, the apical and basal portion.
 The apical portion contains a distinct mass of lymphoid tissue forming the vermiform appendix.
 Caecum opens into the first part of large intestine, the colon which is divisible into an ascending, a
transverse and a descending colon leads into rectum.
7. Anus:
 The terminal part of the alimentary canal is represented by an aperture called anus.
 Rectum leads into the anus which is guarded by sphincter muscle.

B. DIGESTIVE GLANDS:
1. Salivary Glands:
 The salivary glands of the rat include three major paired and several minor glands. These major
glands are Sublingual glands, submandibular glands and parotid glands.
 All the glands have separate openings into the buccal cavity through ducts.
 The secretion of the salivary glands is known as saliva.
 Saliva helps in moistening food and contains an enzyme called ptyalin.
2. Liver:
 It is the largest gland of the body which is located in the upper and right side of the abdominal
cavity below the diaphragm.
 The liver of rat consists of four lobes left, middle, right and caudate.
 The cells of liver are called hepatocytes which secrete bile.
 The rat has no gallbladder. Bile from the rat liver flows directly through the bile duct into the
duodenum of small intestine.
 Bile contains no digestive enzymes but helps in maintain alkaline PH and emulsification of fats.
3. Pancreas:
 It is a diffused structure and is present between the duodenal loops.
 It secretes pancreatic juice which contains digestive enzymes such as trypsinogen (proenzyme),
amylopsin and lipase.
 The juice is carried to the distal part of the duo-denum by a pancreatic duct.
 Islets of Langerhans of the pancreas secrete certain hormones such as insulin.
 Insulin converts glucose into glycogen in the liver and muscles.

4. Gastric Glands:
These are found in stomach and secrete gastric juice containing digestive enzymes like pepsin and
HCL which help in digestion of food.

5. Intestinal Glands:
These are present in the small intestine and secrete intestinal juice containing digestive enzymes
like maltase, sucrase and lipase which help in digestion of food.
Food and Feeding:
 Rats are excellent foragers. They eat almost anything from discarded human food, trash,
grains, nuts, fruits, birds, leaves, mammals, fish, eggs, human infants and small lizards.
 They use their excellent sense of smell, hearing, touch and sight to hunt.
 Eyesight is not great, but the sense of smell is amazing. They use sharp incisors to grab the
prey.
 Food is mashed up in mouth and mixed with saliva to break down starches.
 Then it travels down the oesophagus to the stomach.
 It is further digested with gastric juices which break the bonds holding cells together and kills
bacteria.
 In small intestine, nutrients are absorbed from the food and cellulose is digested in the
caecum.
 Remaining undigested material expelled from the anus.
RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
The respiratory system is studied under respiratory tract and respiratory organs.
A. Respiratory Tract:
It includes external nares, nasal chamber, internal nares, pharynx, larynx, trachea, bronchi and
bronchioles.
External Nares: These are a pair of oval slits under the snout. They lead into the nasal chambers.
Nasal Chambers: The external nares open into nasal passage having olfactory epithelium and
respiratory epithelium. It helps in holding up dust particles. It also moistens the air due to mucous
secreting cells. Olfactory cells help in sensing smell.
Internal Nares: The nasal passage opens behind into the pharynx by a common aperture called the
internal nares.
Pharynx: The pharynx is the cavity behind the nasal cavity. It is common passage for food and air. Its
upper part, which receives the internal naris is called nasopharynx and its lower part behind the buccal
cavity called oropharynx. It connects the nostrils to the trachea, and air passes through it when the rat
breathes. A cartilagenous flap, epiglottis is present the anterior end. It closes the glottis during
swallowing of food. Glottis leads into larynx.
Larynx: Larynx or voice box is the modified anterior part of trachea. Rats, unlike most other
mammals, can use their larynx for two modes of functioning. The first, which causes vocal folds to
fibrate, makes sound that humans can hear. The other use of the larynx is to produce ultrasonic
sounds, which they use for communications. The larynx continues into trachea.

Trachea: The trachea or windpipe is a long tube that connects the nostrils and pharynx to the
lungs. It runs through the neck ventral to oesophagus. It is supported by C-shaped incomplete rings
of elastic cartilage. Air passes through this tube when the rat breathes to get from the environment
to the gas exchange site. On entering the thorax, it is divided into two branches, the primary
bronchi. The primary bronchi enter the corresponding lungs. The primary bronchus divides into
secondary and tertiary bronchi inside the lungs. Tertiary bronchii further divide into respiratory
bronchioles. The bronchioles divide into fine ducts called alveolar duct which open into small sacs
known as alveolar sacs. Each sac is formed by cells called alveoli richly supplied with blood
capillaries. The alveoli are the sites of exchange of gasses.
 Respiratory Organ:
 Lungs: It is main respiratory organs, which is a pair of lungs
situated on the sides of thoracic cavity. The right lung has four
lobes and the left lung has one lobe. The lungs are sacs that fill
with air and contain alveoli. The alveoli exchanges gases with
the air held in the lungs. Each lung is enclosed a double walled
membrane called pleura. The space between two pleural
membrane is called pleural cavity filled with pleural fluid.
Inside each lung, bronchioles divide and redivide and finally
terminate into alveoli. The presence of numerous alveoli makes
lungs spongy.
 Diaphragm: It helps to move the lungs as the rat breaths and
they fill with air. It moves up and down as the lungs expand and
contract.
 Gaseous Exchange:
 Rats exchange gases through the alveoli in their lungs. Alveoli
are tiny air sacs in the lungs that allow for rapid gas exchange.
 They absorb the gases that the rat needs, such as oxygen, into the
rats body and circulatory system.
 Then they get rid of the gases that the rat doesn't need, such as nitrogen and carbon dioxide, by
sending them back out into the environment when the rat exhales.
 Rat inhale through their nostrils.
 The air then brought through the pharynx and trachea to get the lungs.
 The lungs are lined with alveoli, which help the rat to absorb the oxygen it needs.
 Oxygen is then put into the circulatory system to transport it around the rats body.
 As the rat breaths, the diaphragm helps to move the lungs in and out allowing them to fill with air
and push air back out again.
 Oxygen is transported through out the rats body using the circulatory system.
 Oxygen is transferred through small capillaries in the walls of alveoli.
 Blood also contains oxygen binding protein called haemoglobin.
 Haemoglobin transports the oxygen through bloodstream.

Blood Vascular System – Structure of Heart:

 The circulatory system of rat greatly resembles the circulatory system of humans and mammals.
 The circulatory system is responsible for circulating blood and nutrients throughout the body.
 The circulatory system consists of heart, blood and blood vessels.
 The function of the blood vessels is to transport blood and nutrients throughout the body.
Blood:
 Blood consists of liquid plasma and many corpuscles floating in the plasma.
 The plasma is a pale yellow fluid and contains various inorganic salts, vitamins and hormones.
 There are three types of blood corpuscles.
 They are erythrocytes, leucocytes and thrombocytes.
 Erythrocytes (RBCs) red blood cells are round and biconcave.
 Mature erythrocytes are non-nucleated and contain a red pigment called haemoglobin.
Haemoglobin gives red colour to the blood. It has strong but loose affinity for oxygen.
 The red blood corpuscles carry oxygen to different parts of the body and carry back carbon dioxide
from different parts of the body to the lungs through the heart.
 Leucocytes (WBCs) or white blood corpuscles are larger than RBC and their number is much less
than RBC.
 The leucocytes are of different types and their classification is dependent upon the structure of
nucleus and stainability of the cytoplasmic granules.
 These cells move in amoeboid fashion and act as scavengers of the body.
 Thrombocytes or blood platelets are small and non-nucleated. They occur in groups.
 In case of injury these cells break down and produce an enzyme which coagulates the blood and
thereby prevents loss of blood.
Heart:
 The heart is a muscular, internally hollow, four
chambered and cone shaped structure that
occupies most of the thoracic cavity.
 It lies roughly in the midline of the cavity with its
base located cranially and the apex caudally.
 The heart is located in a space within the thorax
between the two pleural bags.
 The space is known as mediastinum.
 The heart is covered over by a thin peritoneal
membrane called pericardium.
 Pericardium is two layered. The outer layer is
known as fibrous pericardium and inner layer is
called serous pericardium.
 The serous pericardium in reality is again made up
of two layers. The innermost layer adherent to
heart is called visceral layer or epicardium and
outer one is called parietal layer.
 The space between the fibrous layer and serous layer is known as pericardial cavity.
 The pericardial cavity is filled with pericardial fluid which acts as a shock absorber.
 On the surface of heart there are three grooves or sulci.
 The coronary sulcus encircles the heart transversely and externally represents the line of
separation between the auricles and ventricles.
 There is mark externally the line of separation between the two ventricles.
 The right auricle receives the venous systemic blood. An internally located ridge within the right
auricle divides it into two regions sinus venarum cavarnum and right auricula.
 There are four main openings in the right auricle. Blood enters in the right auricle through three of
these openings while through the other, blood passes on to the right ventricle.
 The three blood vessels through which blood comes to the right auricle are two precavals and one
post caval.
 Blood from the right auricle flows to the right ventricle through the right atrioventricular aperture.
 The dorsolateral wall of the right auricle demarcated by the inter-auricular septum.
 The left auricle is smaller in size than right auricle and is separated internally from it by the inter-
auricular septum.
 It receives the blood through a large pulmonary opening located on its dorsal wall.
 It opens into the left ventricle through the left atrioventricular aperture.
 The conus arteriosus is fused with the right ventricle and is present as the funnel shaped cranial
portion of the right ventricle leading to the aperture of the pulmonary trunk internally and bordered
externally on the right by the right auricula.
 The lumen of the ventricle is provided with a number of muscular ridges called trabeculae carnae.
 The left ventricle is larger than the right ventricle. It is provided with thick walls. The left
atrioventricular ostium is provided with bicuspid or mitral valve.
 The cusps are held in position by chordae that remain anchored to the ventricular wall.
 The valves prevent the backflow of blood into the left auricle.
 The left aortic arch arises from the left ventricle. The aortic ostium is the opening of the aorta and
it lies near the centre of the base of the heart.
 The ostium is provided with three aortic valves which prevent backflow of blood.

Mechanism of Circulation Through Heart:

 The heart works day and night by alternate contraction (systole) and relaxation (diastole).
 The two auricles begin their systole at the same time and blood from the auricles is forced into
both ventricles.
 Deoxygenated blood goes to the right ventricle and oxygenated blood comes to the left ventricle.
 The backflow of blood is prevented by the atrioventricular valves. The ventricles thus filled up
with blood, start systole.
 In this phase the atrioventricular valves become closed and blood from the right ventricle is forced
through the pulmonary arch while that the left ventricle is forced through the left aortic arch.
 The ventricular systole is followed by a phase of diastole of the whole heart.
 At this stage the semilunar valves remain closed, deoxygenated blood from the caval veins enters
the right auricle and oxygenated blood from pulmonary veins enters the left auricle.
Nervous System - Central Nervous System:
The Central Nervous System of rat includes,
A. Brain
B. Spinal Cord
A. Brain:
 The brain lies in the cranial cavity of the skull. It is covered by three membranes called meninges.
 The innermost is the piamater which is very thin and highly vascular.
 The outermost is duramater. It is thick and lines the cranial cavity.
 The middle one is called as arachnoid mater which is thin and vascular.
 The space between piamater and arachnoid mater (subarachnoid space) and space between
arachnoid and dura mater (subdural space)
 Both space is filled with cerebrospinal fluid which protects the brain from desiccation and external
shocks.
The brain is divided into three regions:

a. Fore brain (Prosencephalon)

b. Mid brain (Mesencephalon)
c. Hind brain (Rhombencephalon)

Fore brain (Prosencephalon)

Mid brain (Mesencephalon)

Hind brain (Rhombencephalon)

a. Fore brain (Prosencephalon): It is highly developed and comprises of ----
1. Olfactory Lobes:
 These are a pair of club shaped structures forming the anterior most part of the brain.
 Both the lobes are separate, not fused with each other.
 Each lobe has two parts, olfactory bulb and olfactory tract.
 Each olfactory lobe encloses a cavity called olfactory ventricle or rhinocoel.
 It opens into lateral ventricle of its side.
2. Cerebral Hemispheres:
 The cerebral hemispheres are well developed and occupy about 2/3 of the whole brain.
 These are tapering in front and broad behind.
 They cover the olfactory lobes partly in front.
 Dorsally, it has a median fissure which divided into two cerebral hemispheres.
 Laterally, sylvian fissure divide it into anterior frontal lobe, middle median lobe and posterior
temporal lobe.
 Ventrally, two cerebral hemispheres are connected by a transverse band of white medullated
fibres called corpus callosum.
 Each cerebral hemisphere contains a ventricle called paracoel or lateral ventricle.
 The two lateral ventricles communicate to each other and with third ventricle by foramen of
Monro.
3. Diencephalon: It is comparatively small and is shadowed completely by backward growth of
cerebrum. Its dorsal surface is raised into pineal stalk which bears rounded body called pineal
body. The ventral surface of diencephalon has a funnel shaped depression called infundibulum
bearing hypophysis. Hypophysis and infundibulum together constitute the pituitary body. The
ventricle of diencephalon is called as diocoel which remains connected to the paracoel. The roof
of diocoel is highly vascular and called anterior choroid plexus. The floor of diocoel is called
hypothalamus which bears pituitary body.
b. Mid Brain (Mesencephalon): It consists of –
1. Optic Lobes: Four optic lobes are situated on the dorsal surface of mid brain. Most part of mid
brain remains covered by cerebrum. Out of the four lobes, the anterior two lobes are larger and
called superior colliculi. The other two are called inferior colliculi. The four optic lobes are
together called corpora quadrigemina. The optic lobes are solid without Optocoel. A narrow
passage called iter connects the 3rd and 4th ventricles.
2. Crura Cerebri: Below the optic lobes, two thick long bands of nerve fibres are present called
crura cerebri. They are composed of white matter.
c. Hind Brain (Rhombencephalon): It consists of
1. Cerebellum: It is well developed. It consists of a large median central lobe called vermis, lateral
lobes on the sides of vermis and two floccular lobes on the outer sides of lateral sides. The surface
of cerebellum is thrown into numerous folds called gyri and grooves called sulci. The cerebellum
is also solid and has no ventricle.
2. Medulla Oblongata: It is the posterior most part of the brain. It is broader in front but tapers
posteriorly to form spinal cord. On the ventral side of anterior medulla oblongata, there is a
transverse band of nerve fibres called pons varolli connecting the two lobes of cerebellum. The
cavity of medulla is called myelocoel. Vascular folds of the roof from posterior choroid plexus. It
is perforated by a small aperture called foramen of Magendie and two lateral foramen of Luschka.
B. Spinal Chord:
 The spinal chord is a whitish, tubular structure which runs through the neural canal of vertebral
column.
 It is also covered by the three meninges – piamater, arachnoid mater and duramater.
 Posteriorly, the spinal cord forms a narrow, triangular cone, called conus terminalis, from which a
bunch of nerves arises. These are called filum terminale.
 The spinal chord has a narrow cavity called central canal which is anteriorly connected to
myelocoel but closed posteriorly.
Peripheral Nervous System:
 It includes nerves which are given out from brain and spinal cord.
 The nerves from the brain are called cranial nerves and those from the spinal cord are called
spinal nerves.
 Twelve pairs of cranial nerves are present in Rat. Thirty two pairs of spinal nerves are present.
Autonomic Nervous System:
 The autonomic nervous system works without voluntary inputs.
 Its effectors are smooth and cardiac muscles and glands.
 The autonomic nervous system is of two types – sympathetic and parasympathetic.
Sense Organs:
1. Structure of Eye:
The eye is photoreceptor organ. It is roughly spherical, lodged in a socket of the skull called orbit.
The eye ball has three concentric coats – outer sclerotic coat, a middle choroid coat and inner retina.
A. Sclerotic Layer: It is outermost thick coat. It is opaque posteriorly and a small anterior part is
transparent. The anterior transparent region is called cornea. The cornea is vascular and permits
light to enter the eye. It is nourished by aqueous humor, and by lacrimal secretion. The cornea is
externally covered by a thin transparent layer called conjunctiva. The conjunctiva is fused with
cornea and is composed of stratified epithelium.
B. Choroid Layer:
 It is a vascular, pigmented coat just below the sclerotic layer
and around retina.
 It is dark brown in colour to absorb the light and avoid internal
reflection.
 The front part of choroid coat has an opening called pupil.
 The region of choroid visible through the cornea and
surrounding the pupil is called iris.
 The iris contains two sets of muscles – sphincter and dilator
muscles.
 These muscles regulate the amount of light entering the eye ball
by varying the size of the pupil.
 The pupil is occupied by a biconvex lens.
 The lens is held in position by ciliary body which encircles the
lens.
 The space between iris and cornea is called anterior chamber
and that between iris and lens is called posterior chamber.
 Both the chambers are filled with aqueous humor containing
98% water. The space between lens and retina is filled with
C. Retina:
 The inner most layer of eye where the image is formed is called retina.
 It lines two-third of choroid layer. It contains special photoreceptor cells called rods and cone.
 The rods are cylindrical and contain pigment rhodopsin. They perceive variety of light intensities.
 Therefore, they are also associated with vision in dim light and night.
 Cones are shorter and thicker as compared to rods.
 They contain the pigment iodeosin. The cones perceive the colours of objects.
 The region where optic nerve leaves the eye lack rods as well as cones. No image is formed in this
region. This region is called blind spot.
D. Accessory Structures Associated with Eye:
1. Eye Lids: On the dorsal and ventral edge of orbit, the skin becomes folded to form upper and
lower eyelid in front of eye. Both eyelids are movable. A third eyelid called nictitating membrane
is also present. The free margins are provided with two rows of eye lashes.
2. Glands: The eye also contains lacrinal glands producing watery secretion called tears.
Meibomian glands are pour out oily secretion at the edge of eyelid. Harderian glands secrete lipid
rich material to lubricate the eyes and eye lids. Glands of Zeiss perform the same function.
3. Eye–ball Muscles: Each eyeball is provided with six sets of muscles which move the eyeball in
the orbit. Out of the six sets, four sets are rectus muscles and two sets are oblique muscles. These
muscles are attached on one side with the eyeball and on the other side with the orbit.
Function of Eye:
 The eye works on the principle similar to a photographic camera. The light rays from the object
are refracted from the conjunctiva, cornea, lens and focused on the retina.
 Maximum refraction is caused by cornea. The retina receives the inverted image.
 This is carried to the optic lobes by optic nerve where the information is processed and animal
sees an upright image.
 In normal condition, when the eye is at rest, the lens is flattened. While focusing on the near
objects, the convexity of the lens increases.
 Convexity decreases while focusing on the distal objects. Since the eyes of rats are placed laterally
on the head, they do not have binocular vision as great as humans.
Structure of Ear:
The ears are stato-ac0ustic organs of rat, performing the function of hearing and equilibrium or the
ears are sensitive to the frequencies of sound waves and to changes in relation to gravity. The
mammalian ear has three parts, an external, a middle and an internal. The internal ear transforms
these sound vibrations into nerve impulses which are communicated to the brain through VIII cranial
nerve.
1. External Ear:
 A large external ear or pinna or auricle is found in rat
which is movable.
 It is a skin covered elastic cartilaginous projection from
the lateral sides of head.
 The pinna is a wide mouthed funnel capable of being
moved or turned in different directions by its muscles.
 The opening of the funnel shaped pinna leads into a
tubular passage called the external auditory meatus.
 It ends into a cone shaped membrane called the tympanum
or ear drum.
 The walls of auditory meatus are covered by skin
containing hairs, oil glands and wax glands.
 The hairs, oil and wax glands protect the ear drum from
the harm caused due to dust and small insects.
 The function of external ear is to collect the sound
vibrations and to detect the direction of sound vibrations
and send them to middle ear.
2. Middle Ear:
 It is the tympanic cavity which starts from the tympanic membrane or
ear drum.
 It is an air filled cavity enclosed in the tympanic bone.
 The ear rum is exposed to the impact of sound vibrations caused due to
the sound in air.
 The tympanic cavity is connected with the pharynx by a tubular
passage, the Eustachian canal for equalizing the air pressure on both
the sides of the ear drum.
 The tympanic cavity is closed internally by a wall which has two
windows, opening into the internal ear.
 These are the upper oval fenestra ovalis and the lower rounded fenestra
rotunda.
 There are three tiny bones called ear ossicles extending to the fenestra
ovalis. These ossicles are hammer shaped malleus, anvil shaped incus
and stirrup shaped stapes.
 These bones represent the articular, quadrate and hyomandibular bones
of other vertebrates. The ear ossicles take up the sound vibrations from
the tympanic membrane and convey them to the internal ear.
3. Internal Ear:
 It is well developed and complicated structure called the membranous
labyrinth.
 It is enclosed in a bony auditory capsule of the same shape as the membranous
labyrinth, formed by the periotic bone.
 The space between the bony capsule and the membranous labyrinth is filled
with a liquid called perilymph.
 A similar fluid found within the membranous labyrinth called the endolymph
having tiny calcareous particles called otoliths.
 The membranous labyrinth is formed of a larger dorsal utriculus and a smaller
ventral sacculus forming the body proper and semi-circular canals and cochlea.

a. Utriculus and Sacculus: The utriculus and sacculus are connected by a

small duct called sacculo-utricular canal. A small, narrow endolymphatic duct
arises from the sacculus which ends blindly against the cranium into an
endolymphatic sac. From the sacculus arises a spirally coiled tube called
cochlear duct or lagena. Both the utriculus and sacculus have a special group
of sensory cells called the macula. These cells bear five projecting hairs
which are embedded in jelly containing otoliths. Macula of utriculus and
sacculus are called machula utriculi and machula sacculi respectively. The
bony labyrinth around the utriculus and sacculus is called the vestibule.
b. Semicircular Canals:
 Three semicircular canals connect at both the ends with utriculus.
 These are external, anterior and posterior semicircular canals situated at right angles to each other.
 The anterior and posterior semicircular canals arise from a common canal after their origin from
utriculus are called crus commune.
 Each semicircular canal has a swollen ampulla at its lower end. Each ampulla has a sensory area
known crista ampullaries which is formed by sensory hair cells and supporting cells.
 The hairs are embedded in a jelly cone having no otoliths.
 The VIII cranial or auditory nerve supporting to ear divides into two branches, vestibular branch
supplying to the semicircular canals, utriculus and sacculus and a cochlear branch supplying to the
cochlea.
c. Cochlea:
 The spirally coiled watch spring like cochlear or lagena arising from sacculus is enclosed within the
similarly spirally coiled cochlear canal of the periotic bone, which together constitute the cochlea.
 It is organ of hearing. Cochlea is a bony tube lined with connective tissue.
 The cochlea shows three chambers or canals- middle chamber or scala media is the cochlear duct
arising from the sacculus and is filled with endolymph.
 It terminates blindly at the apex of spiral or cochlea.
 The upper and lower canals of the cochlea are scala vestibuli and scala tympani respectively.
Working of Ear:
 Ear performs two functions – hearing and equilibrium.
 The cochlear duct of sacculus of the membranous labyrinth is responsible for hearing, while maculi
of sacculus, utriculus and cristae of semicircular canals help in equilibrium.
Hearing:
 The sound waves are collected by the movable pinna which travel through the external auditory
meatus and cause the ear drum to vibrate.
 The vibrations are then transmitted through the ear-ossicles of the middle ear and fenestra ovalis
into the perilymph of internal ear.
 The membrane of fenestra rotunda due to the pressure bulges out into the middle ear.
 Thus it act as a pressure relief valve.
Equilibrium:
 The sensory patches of the ampulla of semicircular canals called cristae and utriculus and sacculus
are called maculae are responsible for maintaining equilibrium of the body.
 Any change in the equilibrium of the body stimulates the hair cells of the cristae and maculae due to
movement in endolymph and otoliths in them.
 Maculae respond to the change in the posture of head and body.
 While the cristae respond to the changes in the direction or rotational movements of head. Cristae
lack otoliths.
Reproductive System of Rat: In Rat the sexes are separate i.e., the male and female reproductive organs are
present in different individuals. The male and the female can be identified by the sexual dimorphic characters,
exhibited by individuals.
Male Reproductive System